THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay children were treated to some “action-packed” workshops at the Fort William Gardens on Friday and Saturday.
QUEST: Tech & Gaming is a free interactive STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, & math) based event presented by Ontario Power Generation this weekend.
Louisa Costanzo, supervisor, Cultural Development, Community Programming, and Events with the city of Thunder Bay, said that many organizations were thrilled at the chance to build the interest of children in STEAM.
“They have a battle bot workshop, an AI workshop, so just tons of things happening, we've got Lake head university here with some of the infrared cameras and a bunch of other stuff behind us, we have our one of our presenting sponsors, OPG with their robot dog,” she said.
“So, there's just a ton of stuff happening here, there's so much stuff, too many things to mention.”
Originally started in 2019 with the hopes of continuing annually, the event was unfortunately unable to be held during the pandemic, but Costanzo said that she's optimistic in the event's future over the coming years after seeing the community participate this weekend.
“These events are community based and we really love just having people together and bringing people together to learn stuff, to do art projects and all that stuff,” she said.
“So, it's just amazing to see people out again.”
Costanzo said that the goal behind the event was to bring knowledge about STEAM to children and encourage them to consider what they want to do in the future while also showcasing what technology Thunder Bay has to offer.
“I think exposing kids to, you know, jobs and stuff like that and different things, things that are happening in the world is is great way to learn,” she said.
“Kids have such a mind to understand things and they really want to learn, so this is an opportunity to to build on that for them.”
For information on upcoming city events, visit the city’s social media at facebook.com/CultureandEventsThunderBay.
